Big Love

Secrets, threats, Viagra--Big Love was always going to be interesting TV, but what makes it first-rate drama is how confidently it moves past exoticism to the ordinary universals of family life.

Thoroughly sharp, seriously compelling.

It's excellent on every level.

Much of its strength comes from a group of actors so skilled that, like the ensemble on "The Sopranos," they draw us into the lives of their characters even if we don't initially want to go there.

"Big Love" sounds like a high-concept, comedic, intentionally sensational enterprise. Parts of "Big Love" are sensational, all right. But only in the best sense of the word.

A very original, extremely well-acted and complexly written drama.

The casting is so good and the production design so sophisticated that the series' pull toward baroque psychosexual doings is, so far, pleasurable. [7 Apr 2006, p.51]

Big Love... is in no hurry to unfurl its plotlines or push its charms. Give it a couple of episodes, though, and you'll be snared.

Captivating.

''Big Love,"... is layered enough to do what HBO's ''The Sopranos" and ''Six Feet Under" have done so well: make atypical heroes knowable and universal. It pulls us into its parallel moral universe, rather than keep us standing outside in judgment.

The acting is among the finest on television.

It’s something of a feat that the makers of Big Love are willing to put the ugly side of this phenomenon up against the mainstream sheen of Bill’s setup, and -- thanks in great part to the marvelous acting on display, from Paxton’s rugged haplessness to all three women’s unique variations on maternal stress and wifely sensuality -- still offer up a family to root for, warts and all.

It is a series that boasts more than a few terrific performances, and yet it is surprisingly mellow, nearly devoid of the kinds of dramatic moments that resonate after the final credits roll.

By the third episode... "Big Love" becomes an addictive treat.